Automobile radio antenna



June 23, 1964 CEJKA 3,138,660

AUTOMOBILE RADIO ANTENNA Filed Nov. 14, 1962 INVENTOR. JMSEPH B. CE'JKAFIG. I BY flax 44312442;

United States v Patent 3,138,660 AUTOMOBILE RADIO ANTENNA Joseph B.Cejka, Highland Park, N.J., assignor to Ward Products Corporation,Amsterdam, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 14, 1962, Ser. No.237,663 1 Claim. (Cl. 174-153) This invention relates to an automobileradio antenna and more particularly to an antenna which may be mountedin a suitably prepared mounting hole from the outside of the automobilebody.

In the installation of an automobile antenna it is desirable to be ableto mount the antenna from the top of the fender without the necessity ofinsertion from below. This reduces both the time required forinstallation and the number of people required for the operation, bothfactors of great importance in the assembly of a car. In addition, whenit is required to replace the original antenna, a top mounting antennafacilitates replacement by the car owner or small service shop withoutthe necessity of working beneath the cowl or fender.

Heretofore, several attempts have been made to provide a simple,reliable, easily insertable apparatus to allow top mounting of anantenna. The most common mounting method has employed the use of atoggle on the side of the antenna housing sleeve. The antenna isinserted in a mounting hole with the toggle in a vertical position andafter insertion the toggle is manipulated to a hori zontal position toengage the undersurface of the body. This method requires themanipulation of the toggle through the mounting hole by means of ascrewdriver or other long object. In addition, the toggle is pin mountedand the excessive application of force on tightening the retainingcollar may shear the pin. Moreover several additional operations arerequired in the manufacture of the antenna assembly including theassembly and installation of two toggles and two pivots.

This invention contemplates the use of a metallic sleeve into which theantenna is mounted from above and a coaxial cable is mounted from below.The lower end of the sleeve contains two outwardly extending projectionswhose upper surfaces slope downward from the sleeve and form bearingsurfaces to engage the undersurface of the cowl. These projections areelectrically conductive and are conductively connected to the sleeve.The sleeve is smaller than the mounting hole in the cowl while theoutwardly extending projections are longer from tip to tip than thediameter of the mounting hole. The sleeve with the antenna and cableattached is placed in the mounting hole by tipping the entire unit andinserting one projection then the other. The unit is then centered andan annular retaining ring which is of a slightly smaller diameter thanthe mounting hole is placed concentrically around the antenna above thehole. This retaining ring has two sets of downwardly projectingretaining lugs which center the ring on the projections of the sleeveand prevent rotation of the sleeve. The retaining ring contains a lug onits edge and the mounting hole is notched to interlock the two parts. Acollar is then placed on top of the retaining ring engaging the sleeveand the entire assembly is drawn together. The downward slopingprojections from the sleeve provide line contact with the cowl andthereby provide adequate electrical grounding for the radio apparatus.

The invention will be further described below with the aid of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the apparatus shown in FIG. I inserted in a mountinghole and tightened;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the retaining ring;

3,138,660. Patented June 23, 1964 FIG. 4 is an isometric view of thesleeve with outwardly extending projections;

FIG. 5 is a pictorial view showing the method of assembly.

Referring to FIG. 1 a hollow four section, collapsible antenna 10, 11,12 and 13 is forced between electrically conducting plug 31 and aninsulating sleeve 30. Sleeve 30 is mounted in the bore of metal sleeve15 and the combination of the plug 31 and the insulating sleeve 30 andmetallic sleeve 15 provide a tight frictional fit for the antenna. Aridge 37 on insulator 30 insures a tight fit between the insulator andsleeve 15.

Sleeve 15 is made of a conducting material and may be either machined orcast. It consists of a threaded upper cylinder 33 and a lower sectiondesigned to mount below the surface of the cowl 14 containing twooutwardly extending projections 16 and 17. As shown in FIG. 4 the uppersurface of projections 16 and 17 are serrated and beveled to insure agood contact with the undersurface of cowl 14. V In addition, surface 28slopes downward away from the center of the sleeve to provide a firmline contact with the cowl to assure adequate electrical grounding.

The dimensioning of sleeve 15 and projections 16 and 17 is critical withrespect to the size of the mounting hole. The sleeve 15 must besubstantially smaller than the diameter of the hole while the tip to tipdiameter of projections 16 and 17 must exceed the mounting holediameter. In addition, the maximum distance that a projection can extendoutwardly is measured from the upper portion of the joint of theopposite projection with the sleeve to the tip of the projection inquestion. This distance, which I call arc distance, must be smaller thanthe mounting hole diameter. If the projections are of dilferent sizes atleast one must fall within the above measurement, While the other may belonger. More than two projections may be used if they allow sufiicientcontact to maintain stability of the unit in the mounting hole.

In addition, the distance from the above measuring point to any locationon the base of sleeve 15 must also be less than the diameter of themounting hole.

An annular ridge 18 is provided in the lower edge of sleeve 15 to form acontact for the outer conductor 39 of coaxial cable 29. The innerconductor contains a receptacle 34 which on insertion contacts pin 32connected to plug 31 which in turn is connected to antenna section 13.Electrical grounding therefore occurs between the outer coaxialconductor and sleeve 15 which in turn is grounded to cowl 14.

The sleeve and antenna are retained in the mounting hole by means ofretaining ring 19 and collar 26. Retaining ring 19 has an outside rib 24slightly larger than the hole punched in cowl 14. The ring has fourdownwardly projecting lugs 20, 21, 22 and 23. Lugs 20 and 21 aredesigned to closely fit both sides of projection 16 or 17. The downwardlugs 22 and 23 perform a similar function with respect to the otherprojection. A lug 35 on the edge of ring 19 keys into a notch 38 in theedge of mounting hole 36 in the cowl and thereby prevents rotation ofthe ring and sleeve. A gasket 25 of suitable resilient material isdesigned to slip over rib 24 and provide a weather seal on the outsideof the cowl when ring 19 is in place.

A collar 26 rests on top of ring 19 and is designed to clamp the variousparts of the antenna structure together. The inside of collar 26 isthreaded to rotate onto threads 33 of sleeve 15 with ring 19 in betweenthe collar and the cowl. Wrench flats 27 are provided on collar 26 tofacilitate tightening.

The antenna structure is assembled on the automobile body as shown inFIG. 5. The apparatus is tipped and first one projection, either 16 or17, is inserted and then the second projection is inserted. The diameterof sleeve 15 is smaller than the hole in the automobile body while thespread of the two projections 16 and 17 exceeds the hole diameter.

After the projections are below cowl 14 the antenna is centeredapproximately and ring 19 is dropped down so that lugs 20, 21, 22 and 23straddle projections 16 and 17. The collar 26 is then moved downward andthreaded onto sleeve 15 tightening the whole assembly as shown in FIG.2.

In the drawing retaining ring 19 is shown as a horizontal ring, but inthe event the antenna is designed to be used on a particular curvedsurface a difierent bevel angle may be provided on ring 19 to allowvertical alignment of the antenna.

I claim:

Apparatus for mounting an antenna comprising, in combination, a hollow,metallic, electrically conducting sleeve adapted to receive and hold anantenna in the upper end of said sleeve, insulating means on said sleeveto insulate said sleeve from the mounted antenna, first and secondelongated electrically conducting projections electrically conductivelyjoined to said sleeve and extending outwardly from said sleeve near thelower end of said sleeve, said first and second projections extendingoutwardly from their joinder with said sleeve in opposite directions andextending downwardly from their joinder with said sleeve, saidprojections having end tips and being adapted for insertion through amounting hole in an automobile body, the distance from tip to tip fromthe first to the second of said projections being larger than thediameter of the mounting hole for which it is adapted, the arc distancefrom the upper part of the joinder between the first projection and thesleeve to the tip of the second projection and also to all portions ofthe bottom of the sleeve being less than the diameter of the saidmounting hole, clamping means engaging said sleeve and adapted to exertclamping force downward on the automobile body above the hole, therebypressing said elongated projections against the undersurface of saidautomobile body, an annular retaining ring mounted on said sleeve belowsaid clamping means, a plurality of downward extending lugs joined tothe said retaining ring and engaging said elongated electricallyconducting projections on each side, and a lug joined to the saidretaining ring and extending from its periphery and adapted to engage anotch in the mounting hole.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,049,283 Westphal Dec. 31, 1912 2,693,333 Race et al Nov. 2, 19542,693,372 Ludwig et al. Nov. 2', 1954 2,870,243 Stewart et al. Jan. 20,1959 2,896,010 Newman July 21, 1959 3,053,555 Lahti Sept. 11, 1962

